Gunman identified in Wash. Walmart shootout

Gunman identified in Wash. Walmart shootout

January 24th, 2011 in News

PORT ORCHARD, Wash. (AP) - Authorities have identified a Utah man as the gunman who ran from deputies before opening fire in a Walmart parking lot outside Seattle, sparking a shootout that killed him and a young woman and wounded two deputies.

The Washington State Patrol said the man is Anthony A. Martinez, 31, of Salt Lake City. Patrol Trooper Krista Hedstrom said the identity of the dead female has not been determined, and that an autopsy scheduled for Monday may provide clues.

The Deseret News in Salt Lake City reported last week that police had issued an endangered persons advisory for a 13-year-old runaway believed to be traveling with Martinez. The girl, who fled from a South Salt Lake foster home on Tuesday, also had run away last fall and was found in Sacramento with him, the newspaper said.

In that incident, Martinez attempted to flee but was captured, The Deseret News said. In November, he pleaded not guilty to a first-degree felony charge of child kidnapping in 2nd District Court in Farmington, Utah. Martinez posted bail and was released from custody.

Martinez had been scheduled to appear in court Wednesday on an order to have no contact with the girl. Court documents describe antagonism between the girl's family and Martinez.

Kitsap County deputies responded to a call Sunday about a suspicious person at the Walmart store in Port Orchard, about 15 miles west of Seattle across Puget Sound. Two deputies found the man and tried to talk to him but he began running, and they gave chase.

Both officers were hit and unable to return fire, but a female officer arriving on the scene shot and killed the gunman, Wilson said. A young woman who ran to the suspect also was hit and died later at a Tacoma hospital.

It's not yet clear who shot the woman, who died later at a Tacoma hospital. Ballistics tests on the bullets could provide the answer, Hedstrom said.

"We believe that she and the deceased gunman knew each other, that they were together," Wilson told The Associated Press. He said investigators don't know yet the relationship between the two.